Weight reduction for automobile fuel economy has spurred the growth of magnesium consumption over the last decade at an annual rate of 15%. To date, the automotive applications of magnesium have been die castings, because of the high productivity of the die casting process. To maintain the competitiveness of current magnesium components, and further expand to new applications, improved wrought magnesium alloys and manufacturing processes for such alloys are needed.
Currently, magnesium and its known alloys have poor bendability and formability except in the usual working temperature range for magnesium alloys of 260° C.–320° C., which is the temperature range for conventional “warm” forming of sheet product.
To expand the applicability of magnesium alloys to additional components and structures of a vehicle, improved methods of working magnesium alloys at less cost and without compromising quality are desirable.